global brand barrier 2: assumptions

Moving to China feeling very solidly half-Chinese was both a blessing and a serious barrier.

The blessing came in the form of curiosity, passion, and commitment in understanding the people. Many foreigners come to China for the market opportunity. The sheer number of Chinese people who are now, at least theoretically, accessible to business propositions is driving investment and interest. More and more foreigners seek to witness, be a part of, and influence a uniquely fast-growth capitalist China. Others come to satiate a deep interest in China’s long history and rich cultural heritage. Whichever the driver for living in China, a foreigner will need to nurture respect and curiosity about local perspectives gained on a person by person level. It takes a certain relentless stubborn persistence and watchful patience to uncover common ground in all circumstances. Feeling only part-foreigner helped me invest unconditionally in exploring the local perspective.

The barrier came in the form of assumptions I am about what drives people who, half-my-blood and some general tendencies aside, have values stemming from experiences I was wholly foreign to.

Assumption 1: The Chinese people are modest, and age is synonymous to power.

The dramatic soar of choice, access, and relative freedom makes young people in China relentless opportunity seekers. Their experience with technology, new ideas, places, products, services and personal freedoms equip them to nimbly out-maneuver their parents in the new China. Add to this the fact that the single-child policy has produced an 80’s generation dubbed ‘little princes’, 20-somethings are often spoiled, and over-confident. While family closeness and respect of elders still reign, young people are the clear knowledge masters. Their parents often relying on them for big and small decisions.

Assumption 2: Low crime rates means people are innocent

Societal beliefs and the common conscience are still largely government-taught. The result is that radio broadcasts about the virtues of a harmonious society (including but not limited to helping one’s fellow neighbors, not spitting, swearing, etc) can be felt on the street level. At least in Beijing, petty theft, armed robberies, murders, and rapes are rare. This gave me the impression that people are quite innocent. While innocence is unusually hight on the one hand, opportunism, is rampant. I often wondered about this paradox of sorts. The answer lay in history and the fact that, some blind spots aside, the Chinese identity draws largely from a conscience of historical identity.

Assumption 3: Foreigners are welcome and accepted unconditionally

People want to learn from foreigners, but the goal is to surpass them to regain China’s rightful place as a great nation in the world. And, history has taught the Chinese to view foreigners with some degree of suspicion. In the name of profits, foreigners come to vast China for its numbers. In the name of progress, Chinese will get to know the foreigners and learn all that they have to offer. Warmth and curiosity about a foreigner doesn’t mean that the Chinese will hesitate to take what is he or she feels is owed to them by the affluent foreigner who had years of living freely before the Chinese joined the catch up game.

Closeness is about open transparent communication:

Closeness is communicated not as much by open talk about opinions (a typical Greek thing as it turns out). Instead, the Chinese will do things together, give gifts, and offer their time and unconditional commitment to the group.